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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293789">Jingle Bell Rock and Crawling Ants</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/marauders_4_life/pseuds/marauders_4_life'>marauders_4_life</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of December [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has ADHD, Diabetes, Diabetic Virgil is mentioned, Multi, Nonbinary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Nonbinary Character, Sensory Overload</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:27:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293789</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/marauders_4_life/pseuds/marauders_4_life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Virgil tried to focus on Patton, they really did. But the music was so loud, and the people around were so overwhelming, and it felt like ants were walking on their skin where their clothes touched their skin. </p>
<p>Or. </p>
<p>Virgil has ADHD and sometimes the world just gets too loud.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>25 Days of December [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Jingle Bell Rock and Crawling Ants</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TW: Swearing, Sensory Overload Description<br/>If those topics will trigger you then please don’t read.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Vi, which one?” Virgil heard Patton say but didn’t really hear it. </p>
<p>“Hmm,” They tried to focus on the sound of Patton’s voice rather than the Christmas music playing through the store’s speakers. </p>
<p>“Chocolate Brownie or Peppermint ice cream?” Patton held up both cartons of ice cream, and Virgil felt like they were looking past it. </p>
<p>“Um, Chocolate?” Virgil watched as Patton placed one carton into the cart and moved to place the remaining carton back into the store’s freezer. Even with the cold air briefly flowing out of the freezer, they still felt like they were overheating. </p>
<p>“Vi?” </p>
<p>“Hmm?” </p>
<p>“Are you okay?” Patton asked, “‘Cause you seem like you’re spacing out or something.” </p>
<p>“Oh, I’m fine.” Well, they would be if it didn’t feel like ants were walking over their body or if that god damn music would just shut the fuck up.</p>
<p>“Okay, we need to go get some bread next,” Patton started pushing the cart forward, and Virgil tried to stay as close as they could to him without bumping together. “And Lo should be meeting us there with the dairy stuff.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” They mumbled as they pulled their jacket sleeves off of their arms for a few seconds, but the fabric still felt wrong when it came back down onto their skin. </p>
<p>They rounded the corner into the baked goods aisle, and Patton stopped the cart underneath the bread loaves. Virgil stared at Patton, who walked forward, but felt like they weren’t actually seeing anything. </p>
<p>“What types of bread did we need, Vi?” It took Virgil a second to figure out what Patton wanted. He wanted them to look at the shared shopping list on their phone. Then, it took them another few seconds to realize that they needed to grab their phone out of their pocket. “Vi, are you good?” </p>
<p>“I’m fine, Pat,” They hissed, and oh god, they didn’t mean that. But the sound of that stupid song and the sound of people talking, and the feeling of their clothes, and that hot feeling, and they just wanted to fucking curl up and cry. </p>
<p>“Okay, then,” Patton said hesitantly, and Virgil felt so guilty, which just made them want to cry even more. Patton should have to be upset just because Virgil couldn’t handle a small sensory overload. </p>
<p>Virgil stared down at the ground as Patton grabbed the bread and some other products before coming back to the cart. </p>
<p>“Vi, are you-” Virgil distantly heard Patton say before getting interrupted by Logan. </p>
<p>“Hello, I-” Logan greeted as he walked up to the cart carrying two cartons of almond milk and some yogurt only to reach across them. And suddenly, the crawling feeling and the heat and the music felt so much more overwhelming. </p>
<p>Virgil felt themself jump backward and end up leaning against the row of freezers they were standing in front of moments before. The cool glass of the freezer on their back felt nice, but it didn’t do anything to stop the fucking overwhelming heat. Quickly, they brought their hands up to their ears and pressed down hard, and started to hum random notes. The pressure and the humming helped to tone down the sound of Jingle Bell Rock, but the grating sound still bypassed their hands. </p>
<p>They could see Logan in front of them and his lips moving, but couldn’t make out the words because of that stupid ass song. Logan waved his right hand a little bit, and Virgil focused their eyes on it. He then started to move his hands in specific sets of movements, and after a few times, Virgil started to recognize the movements as signs.</p>
<p>“Leave want?” Logan kept signing over and over again, taking brief pauses between the end of each repetition. </p>
<p>Virgil jerked their head up and down. Yeah, they wanted to leave. They saw Logan sign okay, then back up a little bit more. They moved forward and took their hands off of their ears only to have the music become overwhelming again. </p>
<p>“Vi, do you want me to grab the headphones?” Virgil always carried a small backpack with them, at first, it was just a diabetes bag. Then as they got older and need to bring more stuff out, such as car keys and a wallet, it became an oversized purse. One of the things that were kept in the bag were collapsible noise-canceling headphones, which all four of them found helpful at times. </p>
<p>They jerked their head side-to-side. No, all they wanted was to be out of the store. </p>
<p>“Okay, let’s go then,” Logan started to walk towards to end of the aisle, and Virgil felt themself following while pulling on their sleeve. </p>
<p>Finally, after dodging groups of shoppers, they made it out to the parking lot, and even with the sound of traffic, Virgil felt themself relaxing slightly without the overwhelming noises in the store. </p>
<p>Sure, it would take them thirty some odd minutes and a few stim toys, along with the quietness of the car, but eventually, they would be feeling calm again. And yeah, this would happen again, rather it was next week or next year, but there wasn’t anything wrong with it no matter what anyone thinks.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you see any typos please inform me, all I want to do is improve my writing. </p>
<p>This is part of my 25 Days of December event that I’m doing this year (2020). This prompt is from a prompt list that I wrote and posted on Tumblr. I’m not doing it in order but picking random ones every day as an advent calendar thing. If you want to see the prompt list here’s the <a href="https://helloitsnico.tumblr.com/post/636071315732889600/25-days-of-december-writing-prompts">Link</a> Also, here’s a link to my <a href="https://helloitsnico.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a> and I would love to interact with you guys on there. </p>
<p>Today’s prompt was “Christmas Music” </p>
<p>So, I had ADHD, and sometimes (especially with loud music and busy stores, such as around Christmas time) it just gets so overwhelming and personally, it feels kinda like this. Also, it’s important to remember that everyone’s sensory overloads are different and this is just my personal experience.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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